DULUTH, GA – Many physicians aren’t sure if the financial incentives for electronic health record adoption in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will be enough to positively affect their practices, according to a recent survey.

The survey, by the medical claims clearinghouse vendor Navicure, revealed that 31 percent of physicians and practice administrators said the ARRA incentives would not be sufficient for their practices to implement an electronic health record.

Phil Dolan, chief marketing officer for Navicure, said the survey is a tool for better understanding medical practice attitudes and actions related to the economy and pending economic stimulus funds available through ARRA.

Almost 1,935 respondents, including physicians, practice executives, administrators and billing managers, participated in the poll.

“At $44,000 available for Medicare providers, the (ARRA) incentives should pay for each physician to implement a full EMR, including training, networking, software, hardware, etc.,” said Justin Barnes, vice president of marketing, corporate development and government affairs at Greenway Medical Technologies and chairman of the HIMSS EHR Association.

Some physician offices already expect to receive the incentives.

“We use technology to reduce expenses and adhere to MGMA guidelines for FTE employees to physician ratio,” said Leyton Braud, administrative director of the central business office at Piedmont Medical Care Corporation.
Unfortunately, many physician practice administrators do not agree.

Almost 44 percent of survey respondents said they aren’t sure if the EHR incentives in the stimulus package will be enough to positively affect their practice, although 36 percent think that an EMR would have its greatest benefit on operational processes.

More than two-thirds of survey respondents said they are currently focused on cutting costs and enhancing revenue, and about 93 percent said they are evaluating ways to improve income, although Dolan said that it was too early to gauge the success of such endeavors.

While the federal government has released the initial definition of ‘meaningful use’ of healthcare information technology adopted using ARRA funds, there won’t be a final rule until December. The ARRA incentives don’t begin until 2011.

Somewhat surprisingly, approximately 17 percent of respondents had no knowledge of the health IT incentives included in ARRA.

“There needs to be a lot more education for physician offices,” said Barnes. “It has been left up to EMR vendors, but it should be provided by (the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and at conferences.”